Short Term Side Effects of a Decreased Sugar Diet

Sugar craving is the most common side effect of decreasing your sugar intake.

Sugar provides 16 percent of the calories of a typical American diet, which corresponds to about 80 grams or 20 teaspoons of sugar based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Decreasing your sugar intake can help you lose weight, better control your blood sugar levels, whether you have diabetes or not, and reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases. Sugar can have an addictive effect and giving it up can induce short-term side effects that usually subside within a few days or week if your stick to your diet.

Sugar Craving

The most common side effect that you can experience within a few hours on your low-sugar diet is sugar craving. When cutting out sugar out of your diet, your body has to adjust to not having a regular influx of sugar. Although your body learns to manage your blood sugar and energy levels without a regular dose of sugar, you may feel the urge to eat sugar, since it is the easiest way your body knows to function. Sugar cravings will eventually lessened and disappear as the weeks go by on your healthier diet.

Positive Side Effects

Most of the side effects that you can experience when decreasing your sugar intake are positive. Within a few days, you should start sleeping better, have more stable energy levels throughout the day and experience improvements in your immune system. If your triglycerides levels were high, a low-sugar diet can quickly lower these levels back in the normal healthy range to help you keep your heart disease risk as low as possible. Although these short-time side effects can be felt within a few days to a few weeks, they will last as long as you stay on your sugar-restricted diet.

Decreased Sugar and Carb Intake

If you reduce both your sugar and your total carb intake at the same time, you may experience a few other short-time side effects. For example, if you not only get rid of added sugar in your breakfast cereals, coffee and soft drinks, but also get rid of extra refined flours from muffins, cookies and other desserts at the same time, you may feel a bit weak and irritable or have headaches in the first few days. This is usually due to mild dehydration caused by the diuretic effect of a lower-carb diet that is both low in sugars and refined carbs from flours.

Easing the Transition

To minimize uncomfortable side effects and make the transition to your low-sugar diet as easy as possible, drink enough water to prevent mild dehydration. If you are restricting your daily carb intake in addition to cutting sugar, add a bit more natural unrefined sea salt to your diet to alleviate side effects, advises Dr. Stephen D. Phinney, co-author of "The Art and Science of Low-Carbohydrate Living." Consume plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits, adequate protein from eggs, fish, poultry and meat, and an appropriate amount of healthy fats from nuts, avocado and olive oil to help you adapt more quickly to your new way of eating.

About the Author

Aglaee Jacob is a registered dietitian. She has experience working with people who have diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and obesity issues. Jacob obtained a bachelor of science and a master of science, both in nutrition, from Laval University in Quebec City, Canada.

Photo Credits

sugar-basin and lump-sugar image by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com